​Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram may be held in underground bunkers - governor

More than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram a year ago may be hidden in underground bunkers in Sambisa forest, according to Kashim Shettima, a Nigerian governor who has called for more decisive actions against the militants.

"We are suspecting
that Chibok girls are living with the insurgents inside bunkers,
I think the military must carry out their operations [beneath]
the earth's surface," Shettima said during a lecture in
Abuja on Tuesday, the daily Nigeria’s Leadership reported. The
governor believes that militants have dug a system of tunnels
which gives them an opportunity to move from house to
house.

The girls the governor spoke about were the ones whose kidnapping
in April 2014 shocked the world. A total of 57 girls managed to
escape from the militants, while 219 are thought to still be held
captive, although in April and May the Nigerian army managed to
free more than 500 women and girls held by the terrorist
organization.

According to the Borno state governor, the militants appear more
rooted than the authorities used to think. "The insurgents
used their bases in the Sambisa Forest to launch deadly attacks
and make a quick retreat to their base which enabled them to
capture and take over control of all the local government areas
in the Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger borders, thus
effectively cutting off the three neighboring countries, thereby
declaring what they assumed was their independent territory
[caliphate]," Shettima said.

The Borno governor also accused media of underestimating the
number of casualties in the conflict in northeast Nigeria. He
claims the number of those killed by terrorists is 300,000 not
the reported 13,000. “This year alone, more than 70,000
people were killed before Boko Haram was knocked out. So far,
more than 300,000 people have been killed,” he said.
“Any time I hear in the media that 13,000 people were killed
so far, if not that Islam forbids suicide I would have committed
suicide,” the governor added.

Shettima warned that Boko Haram still poses a serious threat for
northeast Nigeria. The terrorist group allegedly almost managed
to encircle Maiduguri, the Borno capital, by cutting it off from
all directions. From the governor’s point of view, the federal
government must totally defeat Boko Haram by capturing their
forest bases. This is the main condition for starting
reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region, he said.

Shettima criticized the federal government for downplaying the
struggle against the militants. "As a government, we have
spent over 600 million Nigerian naira ($3 million), but all we
have received from the Federal Government is 200 million naira
($1 million). The same Federal Government has approved over 2
billion naira ($20 million) on dancers (entertainers) as a
loan," he said.

Boko Haram, a terrorist organization that is seeking to establish
a caliphate in Northern Nigeria and rejects the idea of western
education, suffered several defeats at the hands of Nigerian,
Cameroonian, Chadian and Nigerian forces in early 2015. It still
holds some territories in northeast Nigeria, however.

In early March, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State
and in April changed its name to Islamic State’s West Africa
Province.